


Promises

by LilacNoctua



Series: Worthwhile [11]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Engagement, Fluff, KakaGai - Freeform, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Meddling Friends, ShikaTema, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacNoctua/pseuds/LilacNoctua
Summary: “I still cannot believe it,” Lee said finally. “Tenten, Neji and I helped Gai plan that proposal for months. We even got Sakura involved to make sure everything would go smoothly. All that effort and all they wanted was a short ceremony that we threw together in an hour.”“I think it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Gaara told him.Lee finally turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.“Think about it,” Gaara said. “They wanted to be together so badly that they just had to drag everyone out of bed at sunrise for it. All the other stuff doesn’t matter to them, just being married.”Lee and Gaara watch the people closest to them get married. It gets them thinking.
Relationships: Gaara/Rock Lee
Series: Worthwhile [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729480
Comments: 62
Kudos: 83





	1. Impromptu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Content Warning:** Alcohol/intoxication mention

Dawn was only a few hours off and Gaara was curled up in an armchair in the corner of the hotel room, reading a book that Hinata had given him earlier that day. He and Hinata, as they had discovered years ago, had the exact same taste in reading materials and would quietly exchange novels every time they visited each other’s villages. Gaara did not mind his sleepless nights so much anymore. He did a lot of his best work at night, and he could imagine no place more peaceful than a dimly lit room with Lee sprawled across the bed, snoring and talking to himself. If he wasn’t working on a night like this, he was reading or just laying beside Lee and thinking. Sometimes he still wandered the desert or the rooftops of Suna; sometimes Lee would insist on sitting up with him. 

Gaara was just about to reach the pivotal scene of the novel when someone knocked on the door. Much too loudly for this time of night. Annoyed and wary, he slid out of the chair and tiptoed towards the door. In the hallway, two voices were giggling and whispering to each other. He peered through the peephole in the door and recognized a familiar shock of wild silver hair. A gloved fist knocked on the door again, right beside Gaara’s head. Sighing in frustration, he opened the door just a crack to glare at the two men in the hall.

“You’re going to wake Lee,” he hissed.   
Gai and Kakashi, leaning heavily on each other’s shoulders, both cackled as though he had said something hilarious. 

“What are you doing here?” Gaara demanded. “It’s barely four o’clock in the morning.”

“See, Lee will wake up for morning training soon anyway,” Gai boomed.

“But not yet,” Gaara snapped. Lee kept a very precise sleep schedule and Gaara didn’t like to see it disturbed needlessly. 

“Gaara, we need your help,” Kakashi said, pronouncing each word very carefully.

Gaara looked back and forth between them. “Are you two drunk?”

“Only a little tipsy,” Kakashi reassured him. “But that’s not important. What’s important is we need you to marry us.”

“You see,” Gai explained. “The Hokage could marry us or we could get a priest sent over from the Fire Temple, but the Hokage is him and the Fire Temple is far away. But you’re the Kazekage so you have the authority to do it too.”

“I’m not sure I follow your logic, but I’d be honoured to officiate your wedding, if that’s what you’re asking,” Gaara said. “Did you really have to ask me in the middle of the night though?”   
“No no, you don’t understand.” Kakashi leaned forward to plant his hands on Gaara’s shoulders and look him directly in the eye. “We need you to marry us  _ right now. _ ”

“As in tonight?” Gaara demanded sharply.

“What is going on?” Lee’s sleepy voice mumbled from the bed. 

“Go back to sleep, Lee,” Gaara whispered.

“No, Lee! Wake up!” Gai cried. “We’re getting married!”

“Yes, I know, Gai-sensei,” Lee said, sitting up in bed. “I helped you plan your proposal. I was there, remember.”

“No, no, no,” Kakashi shook his head hard. “Listen, we’ve got all the paperwork ready. Can the two of you meet us on top of the Hokage monument at sunrise?”

“Wait!” Lee scrambled out of bed, remembering at the last second to gather the sheet around himself. He hurried over to stand behind Gaara and peer at the two men in the hallway. “You mean that you are getting married right now?”

“Yes!” Kakashi cried impatiently. “If Gaara will quit dragging his heels about it.”

“But Gai-sensei, you only proposed earlier today, I thought that it would take a lot of time for us to plan the wedding,” Lee protested. 

“Well you see, Lee,” Gai said. “I thought so too, but then we went home after dinner and we started celebrating-”

Kakashi snorted and leaned into Gai’s arms.

“-and we were talking about what we wanted the wedding to be like and that’s when we realized-”

“That everyone who we really wanted to share that with was here in the village right now,” Kakashi finished the sentence for him.

“Right. And how often does that happen these days?” Gai went on.

“And we talked about catering and venues and decorations and dates and all that nonsense,” Kakashi snorted.

“And the only thing we could think of that was really  _ important  _ to us, was that we just wanted to be married.”

“I don’t care about anything else,” Kakashi declared. “I’m not about to wait months or even a whole year to plan. We’ve waited too long already.” He kissed Gai’s cheek with his cloth covered mouth.

“Yes,” Gai agreed. “We want to do this now.”

“Alright, you’ve convinced me,” Gaara sighed. “Let me get dressed and I’ll meet you on top of the monument.”

Gai came barreling through the door to hug him. “Thank you! Lee! Go quickly, wake everyone up and tell them to get to the top of the monument by sunrise! You know who to ask!”

“Yes, Gai-sensei!” Lee cried, nearly dropping his sheet in his eagerness to salute his mentor.

“Leave it to Lee,” Gaara told the two men sternly. “Go get yourselves some coffee and try to sober up a bit. I don’t want to perform the ceremony if you’re drunk.”

“Yes sir!” Kakashi mocked Lee’s salute and then the two of them hurried back down the hall, still leaning on each other’s shoulders.

“I cannot believe this is really happening!” Lee cried as soon as the door was closed. “I need to wake up everybody! This is so exciting!” 

He ran to his suitcase and pulled out a clean jumpsuit. 

“You can’t wear that to a wedding, Lee,” Gaara laughed. “Even if it is a weird impromptu wedding at dawn for a pair of half-drunk jounin.”

“Oh no, you’re right,” Lee groaned. “But it will take so much longer for me to put on my festival clothes!”

“Don’t worry, without your leg weights you’ll be able to run from house to house before sunrise, no problem,” Gaara soothed him. “I’ll help you get dressed, that will make it even faster.”

Within minutes, Lee was leaping out the hotel window and away across the rooftops. His first stop was his old apartment. It was barely recognizable anymore since Neji had replaced most of the furniture, seeing it as an actual home rather than just a place to sleep when he wasn’t training. Lee still had a spare key so he let himself in through the door and quickly threw himself to the ground. An assortment of shuriken and kunai dug into the back of the door where he had been standing half a second earlier.

“Tenten! Neji! It is me!” he called out, as a shadowy figure advanced on him.

“Lee? Why are you here in the middle of the night?” Tenten demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are getting married!” Lee exclaimed.

“We know that, Lee,” Neji snapped. He turned the light on and he and Tenten blinked down at Lee who was still sprawled on the floor. “Why are you all dressed up?”

Tenten gasped. “You don’t mean. . ?”

“Yes, Tenten! They’re getting married at sunrise, on top of the Hokage monument! Gaara is performing the ceremony!” 

“After all the work we did to plan that proposal,” Neji huffed. “They’ve just decided to elope?”

“They said they did not want to wait!” Lee explained. “But I am a bit upset about that too, to be honest. It seems very hasty.”

“Still,” said Tenten. “If this is what will make them happy, then this is what we’re going to do.”

“Yes!” Lee agreed. “And they seem very happy! Now, I must keep waking people. Once you are dressed, go start waking people too. Sunrise!”

With that, he ran back out the door again and continued through the village. He next leapt through the balcony door of another tiny apartment, and was immediately forced to execute a series of gymnastics maneuvers to avoid stepping on the mess.

“Naruto, wake up!” 

Naruto startled awake and crashed out of bed, directly on top of a pile of dishes.

“Ow,” he groaned. “What the hell, Bushy Brow?”

“Our senseis are getting married at dawn. Get dressed and get to the top of the Hokage monument. Wake everyone you can think of on your way there!” Lee shouted. “Wake Sakura and Yamato and Sai!”

“No need,” a voice called cheerfully from the balcony. Lee whipped around to find Sai standing there dressed like he was prepared for a mission. “I saw you leave the hotel and run to Neji’s and then here, I thought you must be gathering men for a mission.”

“The most important mission of all!” Lee yelled, raising one fist into the air as tears began gathering in his eyes.

“Right,” Sai agreed. “I’ll go wake Ino, and she’ll get Sakura. If any of us try to wake Sakura, we’ll probably be killed.”

“Good point.” Lee nodded.

“Naruto, go get Yamato.” Sai turned and leaped away across the rooftops. Lee followed him out the door as Naruto was picking himself up off the floor.

Lee was running back from waking up Shikamaru and Temari, as well as the entire Nara clan by accident, when he bumped into Neji again.

“Lee! Have you seen Hinata? She’s not at home.” Neji seemed deeply worried.

“Well, she was not at any of the places I have been to so far.” Lee shrugged. “We will find her, do not worry. If she is at Kurenai’s place, Shikamaru will find her. He was on his way there.”

“Okay, good,” Neji agreed. They dashed in opposite directions again; Neji towards the gatehouse in search of Genma, Lee towards the Inuzuka compound with a pocket full of snacks he had stolen from Naruto’s place and a prayer that he would be fast enough.

He had jumped the fence and was tiptoeing across the lawn, growing more and more nervous about the suspicious absence of dogs, when a quiet voice called his name. He looked up to find Hinata perched on a tree branch above his head, white eyes glowing in the moonlight as she waved at him.

“Hinata! Neji has been looking for you!” 

“Why?” 

“We’re waking everyone,” Lee explained. “Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are getting married at dawn. You need to get dressed and head for the top of the Hokage monument. What are you doing out here.”

“We were planning to prank Kiba,” Shino’s voice came from the darkness higher up in the tree, and he seemed to materialize suddenly beside Hinata. “We owe him one. But I suppose that can wait for another night.”

“Good, wake him up too,” Lee instructed them before dashing back towards the fence. The sky beyond the eastern wall of the village was beginning to lighten, and birds were starting to sing their first sleepy songs of early morning. 

Lee dashed straight through the middle of the village, and up the stairs to the top of the monument, smiling to himself as he remembered Gaara gliding up the railing on a cushion of sand. 

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Gaara waiting for him with a bottle of water that he gulped down gratefully. The sun had barely risen, and the morning was still cool, but Lee had just spent the last hour running in formal clothing and was beginning to sweat unpleasantly. 

“We’re going to wait for a little more light before we get started,” Gaara said. Lee didn’t hear him; he was too busy staring at him and beaming brilliantly.

“You are so cute,” Lee gushed. 

Gaara touched his flower crown self consciously. It was made up of a variety of flowers in shades of pink and clashed violently with his red hair. “Ino brought them.”

“Lee!” Ino called from across the cliff top. “Come get yours.”

Lee hurried forward and Ino placed a crown of bright orange chrysanthemums on his head. Her arms were festooned with dozens of garlands in a rainbow of colours and she hurried off to continue distributing them among the guests. Sai and Naruto appeared at the top of the stairs both looking uncomfortable in their formalwear and awkwardly carrying a large arbor. Tenten and Sakura followed with their arms full of much larger flower garlands and Lee hurried to help them situate the arbour on the cliff top and decorate it with the garlands. Finally, Hinata appeared to scatter flower petals across the ground beneath it. 

“I brought something special,” Shino informed them. “They’ve only just woken up and they’re still a bit groggy.”

He raised his arms and a cloud of butterflies issued from his sleeves. They settled among the flowers on the arbour, their wings shimmering like blue and green jewels as they fluttered in the golden rays of the rising sun.

“I think we’re ready,” Gaara announced.

Sai unfolded an easel and sat down in front of it, everyone else crowded around as Kakashi and Gai approached the arbour. 

“Friends and family,” Gaara began. “As you have undoubtedly heard, we are gathered here this morning to witness the marriage of Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi. I have been asked to promise that this will be brief and then we are all going out for breakfast.”

“Not our treat, though.” Kakashi turned to address the crowd.

Laughter rippled through the gathering.

Gaara pinched Kakashi’s arm. “Now, the two of you have prepared your own vows?”

“We prefer to call them promises,” Gai said.

“Alright,” Gaara agreed. 

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he looked at Gaara. “Have you ever done this before?”

“No,” Gaara said flatly.

“Hmm, well then this will be good practice for three months from now,” he turned to wink at Shikamaru and Temari.

“I don’t have to officiate that one,” Gaara reminded him. “And I’m hoping that the groom will be able to focus on the matter at hand.”

“Right, sorry,” Kakashi pulled a piece of paper out of his sleeve, unfolded it and hesitated for a long moment. He leaned in to whisper something in Gai’s ear.

Gai’s laughter boomed across the clifftop. “Of course everyone is looking at you! It’s our wedding!”

Kakashi whispered to him again.

“Yes, I know, don’t worry,” Gai said, still laughing. “Would you like me to read mine first?”

“No, I can do this,” Kakashi said, straightening his spine and somehow becoming a few inches taller.

“Gai,” he began. “I promise to never refuse one of your challenges, and to continue challenging you myself. I promise that I will look after you whenever you are sick or injured, and also that I will look after myself better, as you asked me to. I promise that I will always be the person you can talk to about anything, and that I will be on board for every adventure you embark upon. I promise,” and here his face began to turn bright red above his mask, but his voice remained strong. “That I will continue to love you, as I have always done, until the day I die. You are the most important person in my life; my eternal rival, my best friend, and now my husband. I promise that I will never allow you to forget that, even for a moment.”

Next to Lee, Naruto laughed and whispered, “That almost sounds more like a threat than a promise.”

Gai wiped a few tears off his face, and produced his own piece of paper. “Kakashi, from the moment I saw you, I knew that you were my man of destiny, my Eternal Rival. But I did not imagine how much you could mean to me, how much I would love you. And I believe that I still do not know, that as we grow old together I will discover depths of love with you that I had never dreamed possible. I promise that I will be your rival for all time, your partner in all things, that I will protect you and take care of you. I promise to care for your students as if they were my own, and to stand by your side as you watch over this village. Finally, I also promise to be the person you can come to on bad days, I promise to always do my best to make you smile.”

He took a deep breath and then began crying. Kakashi wiped tears from Gai’s face, smiling beneath the mask.

“Hold it together for just a few more minutes, Gai.”

Gaara brought out a marriage certificate for the Land of Fire and had them both sign it, then signed it himself.

“You need two witnesses,” he informed them.

Lee immediately stepped forward and signed his name below Gai’s. Kakashi beckoned Sakura forwards and she did the same.

“Sorry Naruto,” Kakashi called out. “I want it to be legible.”

“That’s fair,” Naruto called back. 

Temari brought out the official seal of the Kazekage and Gaara stamped it onto the bottom of the document.

“Well,” he said. “With all the official business completed, I believe there is only one thing left.”

Kakashi’s face turned bright red again.

“I pronounce you married in the eyes of the law, whatever gods may exist, and your family and friends,” Gaara told them. “You may now kiss.”

A hush fell over the assembled crowd. 

Laughing, Gai splayed one hand across Kakashi’s cheek, shielding his face from view as he tugged the mask down, and turned them both quickly so that Gaara was the only one who saw them kiss. The rest of the crowd saw only the back of Gai’s head, and Kakashi’s silver hair.

“Are you kidding me!” Naruto shrieked. Next to him, Sakura was clutching her hair in frustration.

With the mask firmly back in place, Kakashi smiled out at the crowd and raised his and Gai’s joined hands to a round of cheers, whistles and applause.

“Alright everyone,” he called out. “I’m starving. Let’s go get breakfast.”

Gai let out a whoop of excitement, swept Kakashi over his shoulder and bounded towards the stairs.

“So that runs in the family, does it?” Gaara asked quietly, stepping up beside Lee.

“What does?” Lee asked, still looking in the direction that his sensei had gone, smiling widely.

“Nevermind.” Gaara leaned against Lee’s side and watched as their friends began filing back down the stairs.

“I still cannot believe it,” Lee said finally. “Tenten, Neji and I helped Gai plan that proposal for months. We even got Sakura involved to make sure everything would go smoothly. All that effort and all they wanted was a short ceremony that we threw together in an hour.”

“I think it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Gaara told him.

Lee finally turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Think about it,” Gaara said. “They wanted to be together so badly that they just  _ had  _ to drag everyone out of bed at sunrise for it. All the other stuff doesn’t matter to them, just being married.”

“Well,” Lee considered. “I guess when you put it that way, it is terribly romantic. Even if it was sort of. . . unexpected.”

“How was it unexpected?” Gaara wondered, laughing at the look of consternation on Lee’s face. “They’ve been together for years. Before that, I gather they spent years sort of, I don’t know, tiptoeing around each other, like idiots.” He looked up at Lee meaningfully.

“I am so glad we never did that,” Lee said, giggling.

“Come on,” Gaara pulled on his arm. “Breakfast.”

They started down the switchback stairs on the cliff face, hand in hand. Gai had already reached the bottom and was waiting for everyone else to catch up, still carrying Kakashi. A short ways behind them, Shikamaru said something that made Temari laugh. Neji and Tenten walked with their arms around each other as though they were both falling asleep on their feet. Sai was showing Yamato, Sakura and Ino the portrait he had sketched of Kakashi and Gai making their promises to each other. Naruto was skipping backwards down the stairs chatting animatedly to Hinata, who walked with her arm looped through Shino’s. Kiba, Kankuro and Choji came after them, arguing about the best breakfast foods. 

“Stop a second, Lee,” Gaara said suddenly. He stood on a landing part way down the cliff, his head leaning against Lee’s shoulder, flower crown askew. Lee watched him thoughtfully, the beginning of an idea unfurling in the back of his mind, as Gaara watched everyone they loved descend the stairs, laughing and talking in the radiant morning sunlight.


	2. Decided

“Gaara, you need to hold still,” Lee reminded him for the fifth time that morning. “This outfit is ridiculous and I cannot do up all these tiny buttons if you will not stop fidgeting. Why are there so many layers?”

“Because I’m the Kazekage,” Gaara said through gritted teeth. “And that means that I’m apparently not so much a ninja as an ornament for the Council to parade around.”

“Gaara, it is your sister’s wedding!” Lee reminded him.

“No, it’s a circus.”

“You need to stop saying that,” Lee chided. “You know how much it upsets her.”

Gaara opened his mouth to retort but Lee kept talking.

“ _ I  _ know that you mean that you’re upset that you feel like your sister’s wedding is less about her celebrating her happiness than it is about politics and an excuse for all sorts of important people to rub elbows,” Lee explained soothingly. “But when you say that to her, it seems like you are upset about the wedding itself.”

“I’m not!” Gaara protested. “I mean, Shikamaru is kind of marrying up, but I’m happy about it.”

“Marrying up?” Lee repeated.

“My sister is too good for him,” Gaara said matter of factly.

“Okay, but would anyone be good enough for her?” Lee finished with another row of delicate buttons and laughed.

“No,” Gaara admitted. “I’m just glad he’s not scared of her.”

“He definitely is scared of her.” Lee snickered.

“And yet, he’s still here.”

“True. Now please, I know you are angry, but try to smile today,” Lee said, then considered Gaara’s face for a moment. “Or at least, try not to look like you want to kill someone. And whatever you do, do not use the words circus, charade, or political spectacle.”

“Fine,” Gaara grumbled. Then his eyes got very wide as he whipped around to face Lee. “Am I being a bad brother?”

Lee winced. “I would not use the word ‘bad,’ but just. . .not very considerate?”

“I was trying to be considerate,” Gaara complained. “This isn’t what she wanted. She didn’t want to invite all these people or have to deal with who sits where and who talks when and all this other  _ bullshit. _ ” He paused to take a deep breath, ignoring Lee’s scandalized face. “It was the Council who decided all of this. I hate when they do this, meddling in our personal lives as though we were pawns for them to use for whatever schemes they have going on,  _ for the good of the village  _ apparently, as though shinobi give a shit about any of this. Oh, stop that Lee, it’s not like you’ve never heard me say worse words than that before.”

“Sorry,” Lee squeaked, snatching his hands away from his ears.

“Remember when you moved to Suna?” Gaara continued. “Remember how difficult they made that when it really did not have to be?”

“If anything was a charade, that was,” Lee agreed.

“I swear, any time the Konoha and Suna Councils are allowed to collaborate on anything, they just have to make it as complicated and stressful as humanly possible. If they try to do this to us, I’ll. . .” he thought for a long moment but couldn’t seem to come up with a suitable threat so he just growled instead.

“Do this to us?” Lee repeated slowly.

“You know, when we-” Gaara snapped his mouth shut.

“Gaara?”

“Nothing.”

“Gaara!” 

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Okay, fine, be like that,” Lee said. “But I tell you what, if the Councils try to do this to us when we get married, we will elope. The way I see it, Kakashi owes you one.”

Gaara laughed weakly. “I should know better by now than to think you can’t read my mind.”

“Yes,” Lee agreed. “Now listen to me. Today is about Temari, so for the rest of the day, we are going to think of nothing else but Temari and how happy we are for her.”

“Okay fine,” Gaara agreed. “And tomorrow I’m going to invent some very unpleasant tasks for all these conniving, meddlesome, scheming, old shi-”

“Gaara!” 

“I mean, yes of course Lee, let’s go have a great time at this wedding that is definitely not even a little bit ridiculous,” Gaara said, pasting on a false smile.

“Do not make that face at me,” Lee scolded him. 

“I’m smiling.”

“I disagree,” Lee shook his head and tried not to laugh. “Now hold still, you are almost ready.”

By the time they arrived at the Kazekage Tower, which had been decorated elaborately for the event, Gaara had managed to arrange his face into what Lee assured him passed for a serene smile. They glided across the atrium and into the main assembly hall, his hand in the crook of Lee’s elbow as much for comfort as to keep him from tripping over the edge of his elaborate robe. 

Lee deposited him next to Kankuro in the “staging area” that had been set up at the foot of the hall and then went to take his seat among the other Leaf shinobi. Gaara was pleased to see that Kankuro looked every bit as uncomfortable as he did. He was dressed in an equally elaborate and impractical outfit, and had exchanged his usual face paint for a single purple stripe across his eyes. Shikamaru was slumped in a chair staring listlessly at the ceiling, but sweating noticeably. Choji appeared to be stress eating. 

“Well, this is fun,” Gaara muttered. 

“This is a total drag,” Shikamaru groaned, then straightened up slightly. “Don’t tell Temari I said that.”

“It’s okay, man. We know what you mean,” Kankuro said grimly. 

In a similarly cordoned off area across the aisle, Tenten was jamming pins into Temari’s hair while Ino and Sakura attempted to give her a pep talk.

“You can survive without your fan for an hour or two,” Sakura assured her. “This is your wedding, if anyone tries to attack you, I’ll beat them into an unrecognizable pulp.”

“Yeah!” Ino chimed in. “And you look so pretty!”

“Maybe so, but this dress weighs more than I do and I’m horribly uncomfortable. This whole thing is ridiculous,” Temari griped. “Sakura, if you’re going to beat anyone into a pulp, save it for if the Councils try to interfere like this if Gaara gets married. I’ll kill them, he would hate this.”

“Temari,” Tenten said. “Today you can think about yourself for once. We’re going to make sure everything goes smoothly. Gaara and Kankuro are fine. Just relax, and focus on yourself and Shikamaru.”

Temari smiled wryly at her. “Thanks.”

“You really do look lovely,” Sakura gushed. “And you have a different dress for the reception that’s a bit lighter, I think.”

“Barely,” Temari grimaced. 

“And remember,” Tenten added. “Sakura and I promised to keep an eye on Gaara and Kankuro while you’re away so you can enjoy your honeymoon without having to worry about them.”

“If you can get us through today without me having to strangle anybody, I might just trust you to do that,” Temari replied.

“I managed to keep Tsunade from killing several people who probably deserved it,” Sakura pointed out. “I can handle this.”

“It’s starting! It’s starting!” Ino interrupted them, flapping her hands excitedly and fixing her hair. 

The quartet sitting to the left of the altar struck up a slow, solemn tune and Lee turned in his seat to watch as Kankuro emerged from the staging area, offered his arm gallantly to Sakura and they began making their way down the aisle at a slow march. Once they had made it about halfway to the altar, Gaara emerged and linked arms with Tenten. 

Beside Lee, Neji snickered at Tenten towering over Gaara in her high heeled shoes. Lee waved to them both cheerfully as they passed and Tenten leaned down to whisper something in Gaara’s ear that made him chuckle. Sakura and Kankuro reached the altar and then took their places at opposite sides. Choji and Ino came forward next, both beaming. A hush fell over the crowd as Shikamaru appeared with both his parents and they made their way to the front of the hall. 

Once Shikamaru’s parents had taken their places in the front rows among the Nara clan, and Shikamaru was standing in front of the Wind and Fire temple priests who presided over the altar (that had taken the Councils months to negotiate), the quartet began playing another song. 

Temari emerged from behind the curtains at the back of the hall, escorted by Baki, with Mirai walking ahead of her, tossing flower petals across the stone floor. 

“Oh look, Shikamaru’s crying,” Hinata pointed out gleefully.

“Probably from fear,” Naruto chortled. Hinata stepped on his foot.

The ceremony dragged on for well over an hour. The two priests appeared to be competing for the last and most authoritative word. At first, Lee entertained himself by watching Gaara. He was grateful for the clicking of cameras around the hall, as Gaara would not often wear colours that were not black or red, but today had been forced to wear a sky blue that Lee thought looked quite lovely on him. As the ceremony continued, Gaara stood very still, green eyes empty and fixed on some point in the middle distance, as though watching something no one else could see. Lee knew well enough by now that this meant he was lost in some sort of introspection. 

About midway through the ceremony, Lee saw Temari catch Shikamaru’s attention and roll her eyes while the priests were not looking. Shikamaru’s face broke into a wide grin and he struggled to contain it. The next time the priest turned his back, he stuck his tongue out at Temari. She bit her lip to avoid laughing. 

* * * * *

Lee finally found Gaara again after dinner, once the dancing had started.

“See, it was not so bad,” he said.

“Yes,” Gaara agreed. “Though I think the girls have just about worn themselves out trying to keep both Councils away from Temari.”

“And there still may be work to do yet,” Lee muttered, suddenly frowning. He had caught sight of Lord Hiashi and a few of the Hyuga elders seated at a table, watching intently as Neji danced with Tenten. He did not like the look in their eyes one bit.

But even as he watched, Hinata and Hanabi hurried over and planted themselves directly in their family’s line of vision, so that their backs blocked Neji and Tenten from view.

“Nevermind,” Lee said. “You were right. They have thought of everything.”

“I have always been impressed,” Gaara said slowly. “By the way the Leaf shinobi look out for their friends.”

Lee put his arm around Gaara’s shoulders so Gaara could lean against his side.

“Look how happy they are,” Lee said, gesturing to the dancefloor where Shikamaru and Temari were wrapped in each other’s arms. 

Soft lights swirled over the dancefloor as slow music played and Gaara shuffled a little closer to Lee. “You know what this reminds me of?”

Lee beamed at him. “Would you like to dance?”

“Thought you’d never ask.” They walked onto the dancefloor together, and Lee pulled Gaara close, ignoring the click and flash of the many cameras.

“This will be another one for them to add to that scrapbook,” Gaara grumbled, his head resting on Lee’s shoulder. 

“Good,” Lee said. “I quite like looking at that scrapbook.”

“I do too,” Gaara admitted. “Do you remember when holding hands felt like a big deal?”

“Yes,” Lee said, chuckling softly. “And I remember how much I agonized about how to tell you that I loved you.”

“I’m so glad you told me,” Gaara sighed.

“Me too.” Gaara could feel Lee smiling against his hair. “Could you imagine. . .”

“I don’t want to.”

Lee laughed. “And I got so nervous about our first date, too.”

“Not nearly as nervous as I was, I’ll bet you.”

“I would not even have kissed you if you had not asked. I was overthinking everything.”

“Glad I asked then. Though, as I remember, I didn’t so much ask as just tell you to.”

“Yes, you did,” Lee agreed. “And it was perfect.”

“It all seems so long ago,” Gaara said. “I feel like we’ve been like this forever.”

“We will be.”

Gaara knew it was a promise because he could feel Lee making the thumbs up sign against his back. Where his hand rested against Lee’s shoulder, he stuck up his own thumb as well.

* * * * *

Temari and Shikamaru were not leaving until the next morning and it had been agreed that they should have the house to themselves. Gaara, Lee and Kankuro joined their friends from Konoha in the Hokage’s giant hotel suite for an all night party. Pajamas had been donned, faces had been washed, hair had been let out of elaborate coifs. Lee was in the midst of laughing and telling a story about Kankuro’s fitting for his outfit when he realized that Gaara had fallen asleep in his lap. His head lolled onto Lee’s shoulder, drooling slightly on his sweatshirt.

“You guys,” Lee squeaked. “Look!”

“I never thought I would say this about Gaara,” Sakura whispered. “But that’s so cute.”

“Gaara is always cute,” Lee whispered defensively.

“Actually,” Tenten whispered. “Gaara is, you know, very scary.”

“Deeply unsettling,” Ino added.

“Creepy as hell,” Kankuro chimed in.

“An unholy terror,” Sai suggested.

“A formidable genius shinobi,” Kakashi said solemnly.

“Guys, be nice,” Hinata protested quietly. 

“Yeah,” Naruto came to his friend’s defense. “There’s nothing wrong with Gaara.”

“Except for that thing he does when you say something to him and he stares at you until you get deeply uncomfortable and say the thing he knew you were actually thinking,” Sakura reminded him.

“And the thing where he doesn’t make any sound when he walks and just appears out of nowhere,” Kankuro supplied, shuddering.

“And the fact that you always feel like he’s looking through you,” Neji suggested. Tenten snorted and swatted at him.

“He has literally buried me alive on at least seven occasions,” Sai pointed out.

“You had it coming,” Ino reminded him.

“You are all being very rude,” Hinata complained. “Gaara is very sweet, and kind.”

“That’s right,” Naruto agreed much too loudly. “He is.”

“We all like Gaara,” Sakura said placating. “We say these things lovingly.”

“Shhh,” Lee hissed. “Do not wake him! He has been awake for weeks. Let the man sleep!”

Tenten nodded. “We did promise Temari we would look out for him.” 

Lee looked down at Gaara then back up at his friends and made a decision. “I am going to need your help with something. I cannot tell you what right now because it is a secret. But the next time I am in Konoha. . .”

“We’ll be ready,” Neji assured him.


	3. Ask the Question

“Everybody shut up. We have a problem,” Sakura announced from her perch on the Hokage’s desk.

“Yes,” Tenten said slowly, as she reread the letter. “I can see where this might get. . . difficult.”

“Hey, kids,” Kakashi stuck his head around the doorframe. “I kind of need my office to-”

“Kakashi-sensei, get out,” Sakura snapped. “This is an emergency meeting.”

“The message from Gaara isn’t exactly a secret,” Kakashi grumbled.

“Fine, get in here you can help us,” Neji decided. He crossed the room, grabbed Kakashi by the sleeve of his robe and dragged him inside. “But you have to promise not to tell Gai. He’ll tell Lee.”

“Oh, obviously,” Kakashi agreed. 

“It’s just not that big a problem,” Naruto protested. “Just tell him not to do it.”

“Then he’ll think we don’t approve,” Sakura explained.

“We could always tell him that Lee’s planning to ask him.”

“Okay, Sakura,” Kakashi sighed. “Don’t let Naruto anywhere near Gaara unsupervised.”

“I’m on it,” Hinata assured them.

“Wait, why can’t we tell him?” Sai asked.

“It will ruin the surprise,” Neji snapped. “And all of Lee’s planning.”

“I’m having a thought here,” Ino piped up.

“Mark the calendar!” Sakura shouted. Ino kicked her ankle.

“So here’s the idea,” Ino declared. “We keep helping Lee,  _ and  _ we’ll help Gaara too. Don’t breathe a word about it to either of them.”

“And the better man wins!” Naruto shouted.

“I wouldn’t have put it like that.” Ino shrugged. “But that’s the idea.”

“Care to make it a little more interesting?” Kakashi offered.

“This isn’t a contest,” Neji said indignantly.

“But it could be.” Ino decided.

“Let’s say half of us were Team Lee, and the other half were Team Gaara,” Kakashi suggested. He looked around at all of them guiltily. “Never tell Gai I even suggested such a thing.”

“Naturally,” Ino agreed.

“We already know that Lee is aiming for sometime around Suna’s new year celebrations,” Sakura mused. “I imagine Gaara would also think that was a good idea, since we’ve all been invited.”

“That’s true,” Tenten said. “But the question is, will Lee be able to pull it off? Gaara is a very private person and wouldn’t want an audience, which would be difficult to escape during a festival.”

“Normally, yes,” Neji put in. “But if he has us there to help manufacture a perfect scenario, it’s a different story.”

“How about it then?” Kakashi asked. “Neji, Tenten, Sakura and Ino, you guys can be in charge of Lee since you’ve been helping him the most already. You’ve got Gai as a bonus. Or maybe as a hindrance. More of a wildcard, really. Naruto, Hinata, Sai and I will deal with Gaara.”

“That makes Temari your potential help or hindrance then,” Sakura pointed out. “Good luck with that.”

“These teams seem a little, um, unbalanced,” Hinata pointed out. 

“Yeah, good point.” Tenten nodded. “Trade Ino for Sai?”

“Done,” Hinata agreed. 

“We have three months until the celebrations,” Sakura reminded them. “Let’s pull out all the stops.”

“And to the victors go the . . . well, everyone wins, but still.” Ino frowned.

“The losing team could buy ramen for the winning team,” Naruto said hopefully.

“Fine,” Kakashi agreed. “To the victors go the ramen.”

Kakashi and Sakura shook hands.

“Now, get out of my office. I’m trying to run a village here.”

* * * * *

It was a strange mixture. Bone weary exhaustion layered over by crushing, sweaty-palmed, pulse racing anxiety. Gaara leaned his forehead against the wall and took deep breaths. On the one hand, there was a very real concern that he would just fall asleep here and all this would be for nothing. On the other hand, he was pretty sure that this gut twisting nervousness that had kept him awake for weeks now wasn’t about to let him rest yet.

“Why are you wearing your sand armour inside?” Naruto asked blithely, poking at Gaara’s cheek.

“So no one can see that I’m freaking out,” Gaara replied, swatting his hand away.

“About what?” Naruto sounded genuinely surprised.

“Gosh, Naruto, I don’t know,” Gaara couldn’t hold back the sarcasm anymore. “Why are we all here again?”

“Some kind of dinner party thing, I thought?” 

“I think he’s referring to the other thing,” Hinata reminded him.

“Oh, that!” Naruto smacked his own forehead. “That’s today?”

“Yes, you moron,” Ino snapped. “Gaara, it’ll be fine. Everything is planned perfectly, and even if it wasn’t, he’d still say yes.”

Naruto guffawed loudly. “Could you imagine if he said no? I think we’d all die of shock!”

“Naruto, that’s not exactly helping,” Hinata said gently. “He’s not going to say no.”

Gaara shook his head. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Temari looked up from sharpening a small hand fan. “Good, cause I’d kill him.”

“Temari,” Gaara grumbled.

“What?” his sister demanded, fluttering the lethal fan in front of her face. “Ino would help me. Right, Ino?”

“Course I would,” Ino agreed, enthusiastically high fiving her friend.

“But he’s  _ not  _ going to say no,” Hinata steered the conversation back to safer waters. “He’ll say yes. And everything will be fine.”

“That’s not the problem though,” Gaara rasped. “I know he’ll say yes. It’s not like we’ve never talked about it before. I doubt it will even really be a surprise.”

Hinata and Ino exchanged sidelong glances and just barely managed not to blow their cover by laughing.

“So what’s wrong?” Hinata asked.

“Everyone’s going to be there,” Gaara explained.

“We don’t have to be,” Hinata reminded him. “You can wait until you’re alone.”

Gaara shook his head. “You’re all very important to Lee. That’s why I invited everyone. He’ll want to share this with all of you.”

“But what about what you want?” Kakashi asked. “This is important to you too.”

“I just want him to be happy,” Gaara groaned. “Even if that means I have to talk about my feelings in front of everybody. You understand.”

Kakashi winced and nodded. “That I do.”

“Maybe there’s a way to tell Lee how you feel without words,” Naruto mused.

“I appreciate your help, Naruto,” Gaara said. “But Lee already knows how I feel, this is more of a rite of passage than anything else. And I’ve got to do it properly.”

“Yes,” Kakashi agreed. “ And you’re going to do just fine. Just try to enjoy the festivities and we’ll make sure everything goes smoothly when the time comes.”

* * * * *

“Stop that, Lee,” Neji scolded. “You’re going to get all sweaty.”

“I cannot help it,” Lee cried. “I am too nervous! And excited! And scared! And happy! And-”

“Yes, we get it,” Neji interrupted. “But if you do so much as one more push up, Tenten’s going to hit you with a big stick.”

Tenten tapped the end of her staff on the flagstones of the garden path for emphasis.

“Okay, okay,” Lee agreed. “I would not want to appear off putting!”

“That’s my boy!” Gai shouted, slapping him on the back. “You know, before my proposal I did nine thousand squats and had to take three separate showers. All of them in ice cold water.”

“Yes,” Tenten grumbled. “We remember.”

“Where’s the ring?” Sakura asked.

“Here,” Lee patted his pocket.

“And you know what you’re going to say?”

“Yes, I have thought about it for a long time.”

“Alright,” Neji nodded his approval. “We’ll make sure everyone stays focused on the fireworks. In the north end of the garden, beneath those palm trees, I’ve found a secluded place where you and Gaara should be able to slip away unnoticed.” 

“Thank you,” Lee said earnestly. “Gaara would not want everyone to be there. It would stress him out too much.”

“I have a diversion prepared in case we need it,” Sai told him.

Gai pulled Lee aside for a last minute pep talk and Sai leaned close to Neji.

“Do we expect trouble from the opposition?”

“No,” Neji assured him. “They may be sneaky, but they wouldn’t do anything that would ruin this for Lee and Gaara.”

A trail of fire shot into the sky above the cliff that surrounded the village and burst into a cascade of glittering sparks with a bang that echoed through the carved sandstone streets.

“It’s starting!”

Naruto tumbled out of the house with all the others on his heels and they all crowded onto the patio to watch the display. Gaara took his place beside Lee and ducked underneath his arm.

“Come with me,” Lee murmured, tightening his arm around Gaara’s shoulders and drawing him away from the group transfixed by the roar of lights overhead. “We can watch this somewhere else.”

He led Gaara along the garden path until he found the place Neji had told him about where a stone bench was hidden behind a screen of shrubs and nestled among a ring of palm trees. They sat together in silence, watching the fireworks between the fronds. Gaara leaned against Lee, with his head on his shoulder, and Lee could feel the tension Gaara had been carrying for the past sleepless weeks beginning to ebb away.

“This is a nice break,” Gaara whispered. “Thank you.”

Lee leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I am glad you can relax, but truthfully I asked you to come over here because I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“What’s wrong?” Gaara sat up to look into Lee’s face, eyes concerned.

“Nothing,” Lee assured him, kissing his forehead again. “Just the opposite actually. It is that everything is so  _ right. _ ”

Gaara nodded once and waited for Lee to continue. 

“Gaara,” Lee said slowly. “You know that I am very deeply in love with you, and I am happy living here with you. I want to be with you like this forever. You know all that.”

“I know,” Gaara replied. The corners of his mouth quirked up into the tiniest smile. “As though you’d ever let me forget.”

Lee smiled and gave him a soft kiss before pulling away to continue speaking. “But if I could ask you for just one more thing, well. . .”

He took something out of his pocket and began turning it over in his hand. He was silent for a long while, fidgeting with the thing in his hand. Gaara leaned against his side and watched him intently until he finally spoke again.

“It seems like such a huge thing to ask now.” Lee laughed nervously. “I practiced, but now with you here it seems like . . .”

“You can ask me for anything,” Gaara reminded him. “If I can do it, I will.”

“That is just the thing,” Lee replied. “I want you to say yes to this only if you really actually want to. If you would rather keep things just as they are now, well, I promise you I will be happy with that too. You do not need to worry.”

“What is it?”

Lee held up the thing in his hand so that Gaara could see it reflecting the glittering lights bursting overhead. It was a band of hammered steel, shaped by an inexpert hand and carefully polished until it shone.

“I made this for you,” Lee explained. “Because I wanted to ask you if. . . if. . .”

He faltered and tears started to gather in his eyes. Gaara reached into his own pocket and pulled out a small object that he held up alongside the ring Lee was holding.

“I made this for you too. I was going to ask you.”

Lee stared at the ring which glittered like a thousand tiny diamonds, his mouth falling open in shock.

“It took a bit of chakra to make it stay like this,” Gaara explained. “But it will hold as long as I’m alive. It’s sand and it will move with you so that it doesn’t get in the way of your taijutsu and won’t hurt your hand.”

“You were going to ask me?” Lee whispered.

“Yes. At dinner.”

“With everyone there?”

Gaara winced but nodded resolutely. “They are important to you, to both of us. I thought you would want to share this with them.”

Lee opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then snapped it shut again and pulled Gaara in for an impassioned, bone melting kiss.

“I accept your proposal,” Gaara said, breathless, as Lee pulled away. “But I’d still like to ask you the way I had planned. I think it’s important.”

“Of course,” Lee agreed. “Though you already know what my answer will be.”

“Really?” Gaara whispered.

Lee frowned at him. “Did you doubt it?”

“I suppose not. I just feel so. . .” Gaara shook his head and climbed into Lee’s lap to press himself close and kiss him again. “It’s not really about that though.”

“What?”

“You and I know that we belong together,” Gaara explained quietly, his forehead resting against Lee’s. “We both know that this is a love to outlast all things. There was never any doubt of that and we don’t need approval or authorization from anyone else to make that real. The purpose of this is to make sure that everyone else knows. It will make us inseparable, indisputable. Everyone will know that I love you and you are a part of me.”

Lee nodded his agreement. “And I think I will enjoy the privilege of calling you my husband.”

Gaara beamed at him, a rare smile that showed sharp canine teeth and crinkled the blackened corners of his eyes. 

“Husband,” he repeated softly. Lee’s answering grin was accompanied by fresh tears gathering along his lashes. Gaara pitched forward to wind his arms around Lee’s neck and press his cheek against Lee’s. Lee held him so tightly that his ribs creaked in protest, and he could feel Lee smiling against his face.

“So, we are really going to. . .?” Lee’s voice choked off in stifled sob.

“Yes,” Gaara whispered into his hair. “We are.”

They remained like, not even looking up as the grand finale of the fireworks show lit the desert sky in a crackling mosaic of brilliant colour. They ignored the whoops and cheers of their friends as they watched the last of the lights fade and then started filing back towards the house and the delicious scents wafting from the kitchen.

“Where are Lee and Gaara?” Naruto’s voice rang through the garden. “Ow, Sakura! What was that for? You stepped on my foot!”

“Oh man,” Shikamaru groaned. “Hey! Lovebirds! Kankuro and I didn’t spend the whole day cooking just for you to skip out on dinner!”

“We won’t save you any!” Kankuro called.

“We had better go in,” Lee whispered.

“Ready?” Gaara asked.

Lee hopped off the bench and set Gaara on his feet. They made their way into the house with their arms still tightly wrapped around each other, and took their place at the table, scooting their chairs together so they wouldn’t have to let go.

Gaara avoided Naruto’s unsubtle attempts to get his attention throughout dinner. Trying to eat was difficult with his stomach full of butterflies but Kankuro glared at him every time he started picking at his food. Lee ate with his left hand so that his fingers could remain entwined with Gaara’s beneath the table.

As Temari and Shikamaru cleared the dishes away and brought out dessert, Gaara squeezed Lee’s hand and stood up. Temari froze with a tray of pastries still clutched in her hands, and tears started to gather in her eyes.

“Now?” Lee asked softly.

Gaara nodded and took a deep breath. Everyone else at the table leaned forward, waiting. 

“I wanted to ask Lee a very important question,” Gaara began, his voice slightly hoarse and unsteady. He turned to look at Lee instead of at the many pairs of eyes watching him intently. “He kind of beat me to it.”

“Wait, what?” Naruto yelped. 

Sai clapped a hand over his mouth. “Let the man talk!”

“We agreed,” Gaara went on. “That this is something we would like to share with all of you.”

He pulled the sand ring out of his pocket and stared at it for a long moment. Shikamaru took the tray of pastries out of Temari’s shaking hands before she could drop it. Lee nodded encouragingly at him and Gaara took his hand and pulled him to his feet. 

“Will you marry me?” he asked so quietly that Lee barely heard him.

“Yes,” Lee whispered back. He smiled at Gaara and took the hammered steel ring out of his own pocket. “Nothing could possibly make me happier.”

He flicked his left wrist, allowing the bandages to unwind and slide to the floor, not seeming to mind that everyone would be able to see his scarred hand. Gaara slid the ring onto his finger and kissed his hand.

“Do you want yours too?” Lee asked tentatively when Gaara stood unmoving for a few moments too long with the back of Lee’s hand held against his cheek.

“I do,” Gaara croaked, hastily wiping away a single tear and holding out his own left hand. The ring was warm from the palm of Lee’s hand, and unexpectedly heavy. Gaara never wanted to take it off ever again.

They stood staring at each other, hands clasped between them, until Gai boomed out, “Well, what are you waiting for? Kiss him!”

Lee grinned at Gaara and pulled him in for a kiss as their friends drummed on their glasses with their cutlery and whistled and cheered. Chairs scraped against the floor, and no sooner had Lee and Gaara let go of each other than they found themselves engulfed in hugs and tearful congratulations.

It took a long time for them to all settle down enough that they could sit and eat dessert, and it wasn’t until hours afterwards that Lee and Gaara were able to slip away from the rest, but Gaara found that he didn’t especially mind. He watched Gai hug Lee for the hundredth time that evening. His brother and Ino were already discussing colour palettes for the decor. Neji was pretending that he wasn’t crying while Tenten and Hinata laughed at him. Even Shikamaru was misty eyed as he gently pried Temari away from Gaara so that he could breathe. The entire house was filled with warmth and laughter and noise, with Gaara and Lee right at the centre of it.

* * * * *

“Okay,” Sakura announced, depositing the last of the dishes onto the drying rack and turning to survey the remaining stragglers in the kitchen. “We need to discuss this.”

Kakashi checked over his shoulder to make sure Gai wasn’t within ear shot before saying, “I think it’s pretty clear that we won.”

“Lee asked first,” Neji argued. “Out in the garden.”

“Technically he didn’t,” Hinata corrected him. “All he did was tell Gaara that he loves him and show him the ring. Gaara interrupted him before he could ask.”

“It still counts,” Tenten insisted.

“By that logic, Gaara asked twice,” Ino argued. “Once when he interrupted Lee to tell him that he had intended to ask, and again at dinner.”

“So we double win,” Naruto added. “Buy us each two bowls of ramen!”

“Gaara didn’t interrupt Lee to stop him from asking though,” Sai pointed out. “His interruption was acceptance of what he knew Lee was about to ask. He was saying yes.”

“Then why did Gaara have to formally ask him at dinner?” Kakashi retorted.

“So it would be fair.”

“You’re saying they both asked each other and no one wins?” Ino asked slowly.

“Or, we both win?” Tenten suggested.

“I can live with that,” Sakura agreed.

“So then, who’s buying ramen?” Naruto demanded.

Neji smirked. “Maybe if you ask nicely Lee and Gaara will serve ramen at their wedding.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Naruto agreed. “Where are they anyway?”

Kakashi held out an arm to bar Naruto from leaving the kitchen. “Don’t go looking for them right now. We’ve all bothered them with wedding plans and congratulations enough. Let them have the rest of the night for themselves.”

* * * * *

The desert night was cold, but bright with stars and a golden full moon. Gaara didn’t bother looking up at it; the reflection of the stars in Lee’s eyes was more than enough. They lay wrapped together in a blanket where a stone formation shielded them from the wind and created a haven for a profusion of tiny desert plants. The lights of Suna were lost beyond the distant sand dunes.

“I imagine that you will want a wedding a bit like the one Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei had,” Lee murmured, his fingertips softly tracing the outline of Gaara’s face as though making sure that he was real. “I remember you saying that it was romantic.”

“It was,” Gaara agreed. “But the Council here is different from the Council in Konoha. I’ll have to give them some say in planning it. They wouldn’t recognize something that spontaneous.”

“So it is going to be something like Temari’s?”

Gaara shuddered. “Not if I can help it.”

“Oh good,” Lee sighed in relief. “It is important to me that we be able to share this with friends and family, but that was. . . a lot.”

“Somewhere in between,” Gaara decided. “There’s an oasis outside of the village walls to the east. It would be a romantic setting and the trip across the desert to get there would deter anyone who we don’t really want to invite.”

“Perfect,” Lee agreed, pulling Gaara closer for a kiss.

“Would you want to do something in Konoha as well?” Gaara asked when he pulled away.

“Everyone from Konoha will come,” Lee assured him. “Though maybe we could stop there for a visit on our way to the honeymoon.”

“And where are we going for that?” Gaara nuzzled his nose against Lee’s neck.

“Anywhere you want,” Lee sighed.

Gaara smiled against Lee’s skin and began trailing kisses along his collarbone. Lee’s fingers slid into his hair and the ring of sand scraped against his scalp. Gaara paused and lay very still, listening to Lee’s heart beating.

“I know it won’t always be perfect,” Gaara finally whispered. “I’ve always remembered what you told me years ago about what it means to love as a shinobi.”

He drew back to look Lee in the eye and take his face between his hands. Lee turned his head to kiss the palm of his hand, right beneath the band on his finger.

“It doesn’t matter though,” Gaara went on. “I know that being the Kazekage, and you a jounin, there’s the risk that our future will hold a lot of upheaval and tragedy. But I don’t mind. For this, right here and now, you and me, I’ll face all of that gladly. It’s worth it.”

Lee smiled at him and then rolled onto his back, pulling Gaara close so that his head rested on Lee’s chest. Lee held up his left hand so that it was silhouetted against the stars, their light softening the jagged edges of the scars, and twinkling across the individual grains of sand in the ring. 

“Yes,” he agreed. “For you, it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would really like to write a Gaalee wedding some day, but for this series I felt like there was nothing I could say with a wedding scene that hadn't already been said loud and clear in this story and the ones before it. So for now, I will leave that and everything that comes afterwards to your imagination. Next week there will be a one shot that will act as an epilogue and the series will be complete.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you're enjoying this absolute fluff bomb of a fic! I always love hearing from all of you here and on [tumblr.](lilac-writes.tumblr.com/)


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